Josh Bakan: Burke football team carries on Feller's devotion to caring

Sunday

Sep 27, 2015 at 8:25 PMSep 28, 2015 at 1:31 AM

Josh BakanTimes Herald-Record

Corinne Feller always looked out for the person in the room who wasn’t noticed. She cared deeply about the environment, animals and the less fortunate.

Cory Lee was not born yet when Feller, his aunt, died of ovarian cancer at 18 in 1999. But the John S. Burke Catholic jayvee defensive end can vividly describe Feller, a three-sport athlete who graduated from Valley Central with a 90 average.

“She made everyone feel good around her,” Lee said. “My mom always said that at her funeral, there were kids she never even met before who talked about her and how she helped them through tough times.”

The sophomore carries on Feller’s devotion to caring. He emboldened it for the rest of the football program.

Varsity head coach Kevin Ross said last off-season that he wanted the team to perform a community-service project. Lee had the perfect idea.

Lee aided his mother, Nicole, throughout his childhood in Turn the Towns Teal, a national campaign to promote awareness toward ovarian cancer and its often-subtle symptoms. The program asks volunteers to tie teal ribbons where the public can see them, such as trees and lampposts.

With government officials’ approval and bows that James Murry Florist in Goshen made, Burke’s players tied ribbons last month throughout several Orange County towns.

It sparked discussion. Nicole found a post on the Facebook page for Village of Goshen that said, “Does anybody know why the teal ribbons are up?” Then commenters made others aware that the Eagles performed this project to spread ovarian-cancer awareness.

The team would’ve served their communities well with just those couple hours of community service. But they cared too much about the cause to stop.

Burke wore the teal ribbons in their home opener Sept. 12 against Marlboro. They also wore them their final home game Saturday against Ellenville. Each player handed a card with ovarian cancer symptoms to their mother or sister against Marlboro.

Ovarian cancer has no early detection test and is often diagnosed too late. That makes knowing early symptoms critical, says Nicole, who founded the Corinne Feller Memorial Fund.

Feller received diagnosis her senior year of high school, when it was too late. Nicole — 9 years older than Corinne — became pregnant with Cory a year after her death.

Nicole and her husband decided at the beginning of the pregnancy they would name their future child Cory — boy or girl — after Corinne’s nickname.

Ovarian cancer research still has a long way to go, but Feller lives on in more than just memory. Cory and Burke carried on her spirit to care about the person in the room who needs help.

“We know that there’s a woman out there who can potentially live because of this who would’ve otherwise been diagnosed late,” Nicole said. “I think really knowing that happened to her when she was a teenager and we have gone full circle and gotten teenagers involved in this is pretty amazing.”

Lopsided wins offer opportunities

Marlboro (4-0, 2-0 Class B Division I) has won each game this season by 28 points or more. Such lopsided victories take away situations to test out the passing game, but head coach Rich Ward views it positively.

“We’ve been able to get some kids into the game, and hopefully we’ll try to move players in as we move forward,” Ward said.

The ability to use depth in blowouts has allowed new receivers to get opportunities. New wide receivers include sophomore John Perugino (jayvee last year), senior John Mooradian (did not play football last year, but played jayvee in past years) and Daquan Jackson (new to the football program).

The Iron Dukes have thrown 34 passes through four games. Sophomore starting quarterback Phil DeSantis has thrown 12-for-22 with 159 yards and two touchdowns.

DeSantis runs a lot more in Marlboro’s traditionally rush-heavy offense. He holds 638 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in 45 carries this season.

But Ward ensures that Marlboro passes a bit each game, and he sees improvement.